130 engine improvements

[Ed]

Anyone know whether the changes to the 3.0L engine (fuel economy etc) are programming or more substantial mechanical changes.

Seems like BMW wrung another 3mpg out of it in more recent examples.

I.e. can BMW reflash the ECU to deliver these benefits?

Cheers

Ed

[PJR]

It could be a few small tweaks that make up the 3%.. Different tyres, gearing is also a likely candidate. And of course mapping tweaks. If there are ECU software updates available, then I believe they are often applied at service time with the owners usually completely unaware.
Custom remaps from specialist tuners can in theory improve economy (If this is what the map was made for). Particularly when higher octane juice is used.

While im here.. Do the 130's have this Efficient Dynamics hoopla now? Not sure.. Might also make a difference here of course.

P,

[Ed]

I had forgotten about the ED. Efficient Dynamics could explain the difference.

[Lost soul]

Ed said:

I had forgotten about the ED. Efficient Dynamics could explain the difference.

3% hmm i would have thought tyres alone would make more of a difference than 3%

[Ed]

Probably right, but I would rather dry roast my nuts than fit hard compound, low rolling resitance tryes to a tail happy car like this...especially when it's my wife driving...runflats are bad enough.

Hopefully any ECU updates have been done as a matter of course.

[Lost soul]

Ed said:

Probably right, but I would rather dry roast my nuts than fit hard compound, low rolling resitance tryes to a tail happy car like this...especially when it's my wife driving...runflats are bad enough.

Hopefully any ECU updates have been done as a matter of course.

I am not talking about hard compound, low rolling resitance tryes im talking about
a few pound pressure difference

[dibbly_dobbler]

Ed said:

Anyone know whether the changes to the 3.0L engine (fuel economy etc) are programming or more substantial mechanical changes.

Seems like BMW wrung another 3mpg out of it in more recent examples.

I.e. can BMW reflash the ECU to deliver these benefits?

Cheers

Ed

It was the efficient dynamics that improved the mpg so 'No' is the short answer I'm afraid

PJR said:

It could be a few small tweaks that make up the 3%..

Hang on - it's 3mpg not 3% ! In percentage terms it's around 10% I believe...

Ed - there is a lot of info on BabyBMW.net if you are interested. They are cracking little cars in my opinion - the fuel consumption is superb for pre or post ED cars, but the lack of traction was a bummer for me. Lots of people have swapped the RFTs for Falken tyres which reputedly fix the ride and traction issues...

[VerySideways]

dibbly_dobbler said:

Lots of people have swapped the RFTs for Falken tyres which reputedly fix the ride and traction issues...

Yep, Falkens and Goodyear Asymmetrics seem very popular, though i'm not sure "fix" is the right word. Improve?
Mine's certainly still very skittish/tail happy, especially if the temperature is below 5 degrees.

[Ed]

Cheers guys

[Ed]

Cheers guys

[VerySideways]

FYI, BMW quote 265PS which is 261bhp using 97 octane fuel.
My car, just a few hours ago, made this on the SRR dyno using 95 octane unleaded: